Monday, August 20, 2018

New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and
Michael S. Schmidt broke a blockbuster
story explaining that the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II,
“cooperated extensively” with Robert Mueller’s investigation.

According to the
Times, McGahn spoke to the special counsel’s office for as much as 30 hours, on
at least three separate occasions. Although what he said remains unknown,
Haberman and Schmidt report that his testimony was sparked, at least in part,
by the fear that “Mr. Trump was setting up Mr. McGahn to take the blame for any
possible illegal acts of obstruction” after Trump’s (now former) lawyers, John
Dowd and Ty Cobb, encouraged McGahn to talk to Mueller as part of their
“open-book strategy.”

Reminiscent of the Watergate scandal McGahn was out to protect himself more than sink Trump. According to Slate the story suggests, “Worried that Mr. Trump would ultimately blame him in the
inquiry, Mr. McGahn told people he was determined to avoid the
fate of the White House counsel for President Richard M. Nixon, John W.
Dean, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate
scandal.”

Near the end of the piece, Haberman and Schmidt
note—wryly—that “as the months passed on, it became apparent that Mr. McGahn
and [his lawyer] had overestimated the amount of thought that they believed the
president put into his legal strategy.”

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.